Additive fabrication, e.g., 3-dimensional (3D) printing, provides techniques for fabricating objects, typically by causing portions of a building material to solidify at specific locations. Additive fabrication techniques may include stereolithography, selective or fused deposition modeling, direct composite manufacturing, laminated object manufacturing, selective phase area deposition, multi-phase jet solidification, ballistic particle manufacturing, particle deposition, laser sintering or combinations thereof. Many additive fabrication techniques build parts by forming successive layers, which are typically cross-sections of the desired object. Typically each layer is formed such that it adheres to either a previously formed layer or a substrate upon which the object is built.
When producing certain objects by additive fabrication, a support structure may be fabricated to provide mechanical support to the object being fabricated. An object may contain regions that are not fully supported by previously formed layers, and in such instances there may be no suitable working surface during fabrication that can provide support to those regions. By fabricating a support structure along with the primary object, a working surface can be provided to non-fully supported regions of the object during fabrication. Following the completion of the 3D printing process, the support structure is removed from the object through various post-processing steps.
In many cases, however, support structures can lead to surface deformations or other flaws in the object being fabricated, such as flaws caused by the attachment to the object and/or by the removal of the support structures from the object. The removal process in particular can damage the object in numerous ways, including by leaving part of the support structure behind, removing part of the object with the support structure, damaging the object, or otherwise marring the surface finish of the object. These flaws can be particularly apparent when support structures are fabricated using the same material as the desired object.